National Tribal Environmental Council

On behalf of the National Tribal Environmental Council (NTEC) and our 187 member tribes, we thank you for the opportunity to provide FY 2012 funding recommendations for the Department of the Interior and other agencies under the purview of this Committee.

Founded in 1991, NTEC works with federally recognized tribes to protect tribal environments. NTEC’s mission is to support Indian Tribes and Alaska Natives in protecting, regulating, and managing their environmental resources according to their own priorities and values.

Despite having some of the most pristine habitat in the U.S., tribes have been historically underfunded for wildlife and natural resource management and conservation. There are 565 federally recognized American Indian tribes and over 300 reservations in the U.S. Tribes manage 95 million acres of land, 11 million acres more than the National Park Service (NPS). Tribal lands contain more than 997,000 acres of lakes, 13,000 miles of rivers, and 18 million acres of forested lands. Tribal lands provide vital habitat for more than 525 federally listed plants and animals, many of which are both ecologically and culturally significant to tribes.

I. Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)

Interior Department (DOI) Climate Change Adaptation Initiative (Cooperative Landscape Conservation)

Increase the Bureau of Indian Affair’s allocation of the Interior Department’s Climate Change Adaptation Initiative to $8.75 million.

DOI began a Climate Change Adaptation Initiative in 2009, an undertaking that Indian tribes support in principle. The Administration’s FY 2012 budget request for the initiative is $175 million, an increase of $39 million over 2010/2011 CR. The $136 million for the initiative in 2010/2011 CR did not include any funding for tribes. Despite a substantial increase in the overall funding request, the situation for tribes is nearly as bad in the 2012 budget. Of the $175 million, only $200,000 (taken from an existing BIA Real Estate Services account) will be used to involve and assist Indian tribes in the North Pacific cooperative. As such, tribes are accorded a mere .001% of the funding for participation in only one of twenty-one Landscape Conservation Cooperatives. This contradicts DOI’s statement that it “is working collaboratively across its bureaus, with other Federal agencies, State, and tribal governments, and non-governmental organizations to leverage fiscal resources and expertise and focus them on conservation of the Nation’s different ecosystems.”1 Moreover, this is highly inequitable, especially considering the disproportionate effect of climate change on tribes and their homelands. Sovereign Indian tribes deserve a broader seat at the table in the Climate Change Adaptation Initiative and a more equitable share of the funding.

Tribal lands comprise 4 percent of the U.S. land base, but represent a higher percentage if compared to the federal lands involved in the initiative. Tribal lands comprise 95 million acres which, divided by the total 587 million acres of federal land, equal16 percent. Tribal lands include 11 million acres more than NPS, yet the Administration proposed nearly 50 times more funding for NPS in FY 2012.

Agency        Acres (in millions)

BLM            258

FWS             150

BIA/Tribes   95

NPS              84

Total            587

Given that tribal natural resources have been historically underfunded and there is no federal program or funding that specifically supports tribal climate adaptation efforts, we request that the allocation to tribes via the BIA should be increased to $8.75 million, or 5% of DOI’s Climate Change Adaptation initiative, for tribes to address and adapt to the impacts of climate change. To achieve this equitable increase for tribes, the money provided to the various Interior agencies for the Initiative must be reallocated. We request that you include language in the bill directing the Secretary to set aside these funds for tribes.

Trust Natural Resources Program

Increase FY 2010/2011 CR amount of $175.62 million by at least $13.36 million for Bureau of Indian Affairs Trust Natural Resources Program.

The BIA Trust Natural Resources (TNR) Program represents the largest amount of base, federal funding for tribal natural resource management. There are several modest increases in the FY 2012 budget request, such as $1 million each for Rights Protection Implementation, Tribal Management/Development, Forestry, Water Management Planning and Pre-Development, Wildlife and Parks, and Wildlife and Parks fish hatchery projects, and $500,000 for Invasive Species. Even with these increases, base programs that fund tribes’ daily conservation responsibilities are funded at levels less than a decade ago.

In 1999, the BIA reported that tribes had more than $356 million of unmet annual needs for natural resource management.2 Despite some annual increases since then, the BIA and tribes have lagged significantly behind in funding compared to other Interior agencies. For example, the FY 2012 budget requests increases of $138 million for NPS and $48 million for FWS, yet the request for BIA is a decrease of $119 million. Moreover, in the last nine years, the BIA budget has grown only 8% compared to an average of over 23% for other Interior agencies (FWS: 30%; NPS: 28%; USGS: 19%; BLM: 13%). Because BIA spending on natural resources in the last 11 years has been relatively flat compared to inflation, and BIA’s budget has been historically inadequate to meet the natural resource needs of Indian tribes, their needs have multiplied.

The FY 2012 request is $13.36 million less than the FY 2010 enacted level, primarily due to a shift of Minerals and Mining (M&M) funding from TNR to economic development and modest decreases to a variety of TNR programs. We acknowledge that the shift of M&M funding means the money still exists but in a different place. However, due to the significant unmet annual needs for tribal natural resource management and the historic underfunding of tribal natural resource base programs, we believe it is vital to augment TNR base funding with a respective amount. Thus, we request at least a $13.36 million increase over 2010/2011 CR levels to BIA TNR core programs.

II. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)

Tribal Wildlife Grants Program

Increase U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Tribal Wildlife Grants funding to $9.4 million.

Unfortunately, tribes are not eligible for funding under federal wildlife and fishery restoration programs such as the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act (Pittman-Robertson) or the Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Act (Dingell-Johnson) that fund activities through an excise tax on hunting and fishing equipment. Although tribal members pay taxes that support this funding, they remain excluded from receiving the benefits and only states are allowed to access them.

In 2002, Congress authorized FWS to provide funding to tribes under the Tribal Wildlife Grant (TWG) and Tribal Landowner Incentive Programs (TLIP). Tribal proposals for support often total more than $30 million annually. In FY 2009, FWS only funded 41 TWG proposals out of 101 submitted, awarding $7 million to tribes with a meager average award of $170,000. With 565 federally recognized tribes, competition is severe and tribes rarely receive sufficient funds to fully support important conservation efforts.

In FY 2010/2011 CR, states received nearly $1 billion from the Pittman-Robertson, Dingell-Johnson, and State Wildlife Grants programs. Thus, the $7 million tribes received from the TWG program was only .007% of the amount states received. From 2002-2010, states received nearly 86 times more FWS funding than tribes for fish and wildlife conservation, or $6.25 billion for states compared to $72.2 million for tribes.3

Since the inception of the TWG program in 2002, no more than $7 million per year has been made available on a competitive basis to the nation’s 565 federally recognized tribes. We are pleased to see the FY 2012 request of a $1 million increase to TWG program funding over FY 2010/2011 CR. Yet, at this low level of funding, very few tribes receive any TWG funding; those receiving TWG funding typically get very little; and no tribe receives sufficient funding to sustain long-term tribal wildlife and natural resource management efforts. In FY 2010, the State portion of the State and Tribal Wildlife Grant Program was increased by $15 million (20% over FY 2009). Tribes deserved at least the same 20 percent increase in FY 2010, which would have amounted to $1.4 million. Thus we request that TWG Program funding be increased to $9.4 million for FY 2012 ($1 million from FY 2012 request plus 20% of FY 2010 increase).

America’s Great Outdoors (AGO) and Youth in the Great Outdoors (YGO) Initiatives

Set aside $7.5 million of the America’s Great Outdoors initiative for tribes. Set aside $2.34 million of the Youth in the Great Outdoors initiative for tribes.

The AGO initiative “seeks to empower all American citizens, community groups, and local, State and tribal governments to share in the leadership responsibility for protecting, improving, and providing greater access to natural areas and their resources and leaving a healthy, vibrant outdoor legacy for generations to come.” Tribes support these goals for protecting natural resources for current and future generations. Despite DOI’s written commitment to partner with tribes in its FY 2012 Budget in Brief and the declaration that the AGO initiative directs FWS to “build on…tribal priorities for conservation,” there is no dedicated funding for tribes to participate in the AGO initiative.4 The FY2012 request for the AGO is $5.5 billion, including $150 million for partnership programs. We request that at least 5%, or $7.5 million, be allocated to tribes via the BIA or FWS for participation and partnership in the AGO initiative.

DOI, via the YGO initiative, likewise aims to engage and partner with tribes to employ, educate, and engage youth to explore, connect with, and preserve America’s natural and cultural heritage. We appreciate that the BIA and other Interior agencies have employed and engaged tribal youth in these programs in the past, but there seems to be no dedicated funds to ensuring sustainable tribal youth engagement. The FY 2012 request for the YGO initiative is $46.8 million. We request that 5%, or $2.34 million, be allocated and dedicated to tribes via the BIA or FWS for participation and partnership in the YGO initiative.

III. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

General Assistance Program

Preserve the Administration’s FY 2012 request of $71.4 million for the EPA General Assistance Program.

Since 1992, the EPA’s Indian Environmental General Assistance Program (GAP) has served a critical need in providing funding to tribes to build capacity for environmental management. The FY 2012 budget request includes a much-needed $8.5 million increase for GAP. This requested increase will help tribes to continue to build environmental capacity and further advance efforts to manage tribal environments. We request that the EPA GAP Program be funded at the proposed $71.4 million level.

Multimedia Tribal Implementation Grants Program

Preserve the Administration’s FY 2012 request of $20 million for the Multimedia Tribal Implementation Grants Program.

The FY 2012 budget request for EPA proposes a new Multimedia Tribal Implementation Grants program to support on-the-ground implementation of environmental protection on tribal lands. This program would provide $20 million ($12 million less than the FY 2011 request) for tribes to address their most pressing environmental needs. This program would allow tribes to move beyond the planning measures supported by GAP and allow them to begin implementing tribal environmental priorities. We request that the Multimedia Tribal Grants be funded at the proposed $20 million level.

1 Fiscal Year 2012 The Interior Budget in Brief, DH-37, emphasis added.

2 U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Report on Tribal Priority Allocations, July 1999, 52.

3 In this example, state funding includes the FWS Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Programs and State Wildlife Grants. Tribal funding includes the FWS Tribal Wildlife Grants and Tribal Landowner Incentive Program.

4 Interior Budget in Brief, DH 4-5 and BH 61.